Drumming at Floydfest

All photos by Scott Swimmer

Drumming at Floydfest

From Thursday thru Sunday, July 22-25, 2010, Floydfest 9 was held in the secnic valleys and hills of Virginia nestled along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Tuggles Gap.  Pal Scott Swimmer of drumSTRONG invited me to tag along to help facilitate family-friendly drum circles in the Children's Universe.  Our friend Frank Bloom of Thunderdrums came from Asheville and ran sound and performed, too.  Our good friend Shorty Palmer of Djembe Drums & Skins came to hang out and tune drums for festival goers. 

When I arrived midday on Thursday, Scott had already arrived the day before and single-handedly set up the drumSTRONG booth with a tremendous display of goodies and information related to promoting the mission of Drums for Cures.  We talked to THOUSANDS of people about Scott's mission to raise awareness and promote local cancer-related health initiatives through rhythm.

As both vendors and artists, we got great access backstage and to the VIP sections, including the primo showers, production areas of the stages, great free coffee from local roaster Red Rooster, and free meals in the staff and artist dining area.  I got a great deal on sun-shade hats for Shorty and I from a French-Canadian fellow named Eric who was set up near the main stage.  We got to meet the guy who owns Eagle's Nest Outfitters;  they make the phenomenal parachute hammocks you find at REI.  They even gave Shorty a demo djembe bag to test!  We met custom boot makers, hula hoopers, yoga and massage folks, and all sorts of artisans including our booth neighbor Nataliya Strumila from Burlington who makes beautiful fillegree jewelry as Russian Colors.  

We also met some amazing drummers and a few drum builders including Michael Oliver of Yage Drums down in Carolina Beach and Brad from B-Rad Percussion.  Local to Floyd, B-rad patented the pedal-powered talking drum.  AND we connected with Scott & Jules from Carrboro's HoopDrum as well as hoopstar Sprial.  Late-night drumming and fire spinning around the fire pit happened daily and drew great crowds, often lasting until 5:30am!  

On Saturday evening we drummed in a Dixieland-style parade around the crowd at the main stage with the folks from Sol Driven Train from Charleston, SC.  Later that night the transformer blew and we had a fantastic impromptu drum jam by tiki torches at the booth.  Eventually the power was restored, but for an hour we were the only show in town!

I stayed up WAY past my bedtime checking out all the great music.  Scott, Shorty, and I caught Frank's Thunderdrums set on Thursday night.  Nataliya and I jammed under the fire-breathing dragon on Friday night down in the Global Village.  Shorty, Joanie and I danced like crazy people to the funk of Karl Denson's Tiny Universe down at the Hill Holler stage on Saturday night.  My favorites by far, though, were Leah and Hemotep, folks we actually met and talked to who were part of the band Rising Appalachia.  They call their music freak folk, but I think of it as funk-a-billy!

We were fortunate to have our own little camping cluster right behind our vending area rather than having to find our way through the woods (and poison ivy) among the thousands of tent campers.  Every morning we would roll out one by one.  I was usually first, then Shorty, Nataliya, Scott, and finally Frank would stumble out on his way to do sound for yet another band on yet another stage.  Our breakfast buddy Joanie would join us on the patio in front of the Poor Farmer's Market where we'd bask in the morning sun while watching the "Duchess" and lots of other passersby before heading down to see Tom and Pal at the Sugar Shack for their simply stupendous "Breakfast Thang".

More than 15,000 people attended this phenomenal festival.  We didn't go intending to sell drums, but of those drums we took to use for the drum circles, I think we sold all but ten!  Shorty donated the profits on sales to Scott and together they raised well over $1000 that drumSTRONG in turn donated to benefit local charities.  I feel blessed to have been a part of it all and to have celebrated my birthday with good friends and great music.  While there we were invited to several other festivals, so be on the lookout!